Apple-preparing machine



Apr. 10, 1923.

E. E. GAY

APPLE PREPARING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 1922 4 sheets-sheet 1 Suva wtozllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll 65Edwamff Gay C/ZMAJL 5 Apr. 10, 1923.

E. E. GAY

APPLE PREPARING MACHINE 4 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Feb. 15

anvewtoz 3 Edward GO] MWWZ aw Apr. 10, 1923. 1,451,571

E. E. GAY

APPLE PREPARING MACHINE Filed Feb. 15, 1922 4 sheets-sheet 5 1 i lllllilc 4 sheets-sheet 4 EEGAY APPLE PREPARING MACHINE Filed Feb.

Apr. 10, 1923.

amozwtoz junction of the lower beams 11.

Patented Apr. 10, 1923.

UNITED STATES EDWARD E. GAY, OF SPRINGDALE, ARKANSAS.

APPLE-PREPARING MACHINE.

Application filed February 13, 1922. Serial No. 536,267.

To all whom it may concem Be it known that I, EDWARD E.. GAY, a citizen.of the United States, residing at Springdale, in the county ofWashington and State of Arkansas, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apple- Preparing Machines; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to machines for preparing apples for canning ordrying, and has for its object the provision of an improved applepeeler, corer, and slicer, requiring a minimum of. labor.

In the drawings,-

Figure 1 is a vertical section of a preferred embodiment of myinvention.

Figs. 2 and 3 are horizontal sections on lines 2 and 3 respectively ofFig. 1.

Figs. 4 and '5 are a plan view and a central vertical cross sectionthrough one of the outer spiders.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are a plan, side elevation and end elevation of theparing device.

Figs. 10 and 11 are a side elevation, and bottom plan view of thequarterer and corer.

Fig. 12 is a central vertical view of the fork mechanism.

The framework of the machine consists in the vertical beams 10 joined attheir bottom by the diagonals 11 and by similar diagonals 12 at the top,these upper beams being provided with a bearing 14 for the main driveshaft 15 which has a thrust bearing 16 at the The main shaft 15 derivesits power from any convenient motor by means of the clutch pulley 17 andbelt 18.

A sleeve 20 loosely mounted on the drive shaft 15 carries a Geneva wheel22 driven by means of a pin 24 on disk 25, the latter being mounted on ashort shaft 26 which carries at its lower end the gear 27 driven by thegear 28 on the main shaft 15.

Near the upper portion of the sleeve 20 is mounted aninner spider 30having six arms 32, each rotatably carrying at its extremity a hollowshaft 33 having a bearing flange 37 at the upper edge thereof. Asmall'pinion 34 is secured on said shaft at one end and receiving at itsother or upper end a fork 35, the latterhaving a pair of tines'38adapted to pierce an apple from its either end. Rotation of the pinion34 with respect to the hollow shaft 33 is prevented in any preferredmanner as by set screws 39.

At diametrically opposite sides of the main shaft 15 aremounted-auxiliary shafts 40 supported in thrust bearings 41 at thebottom and at their central portio s in bearings 42 on the cross piece44. ese two shafts 40 are each driven from the main shaft 15 by means ofa pinion 45, both meshing with a gear 46 on the main shaft. Each shaft40'at its upper end carries a wide gear 48 adapted to mesh with one ofthe two pinions 34 when the inner spider 30 is at rest in any one of itssix positions.

Up and down movement of the sleeve 20 on the shaft 15 is accomplished bymeans of a cylinder cam 50 keyed to the shaft 15 and driving a smallanti-friction wheel 52 on the bottom of the sleeve 20 so as to cause thesleeve 20 to rise slowly for about eightninths of a revolution of thecam and then to lower rapidly on the portion 53 of the cam, this up anddown movement of the sleeve being possible due to the width of the gears48 on the shafts 40. The mechanism so far described provides for theconstant rotation of the gears 27 and 48 with an intermittent motion ofthe inner spider and the rapid revolving of two of the forks 35 duringeach dwell of the inner spider atwhich time the spider will be goingfrom its lowest to its highest position, the apple speared on the tinesof the fork at such time being in contact with certain mechanismhereinafter to be described, particular attention being invited to thefact that but two of the apples are revolved at each dwell of the innerspider, the other four apples being still, due to the absence of contactof the respective pinions 34 with any driving mechanism.

Each of the two outer spiders is mounted on a shaft 61 mounted inbearings 62 and carrying a relatively large gear 63 meshing with a widegear 64 on the sleeve 20 so that the outer spiders are rotated intermit-"1 .3 Arab,

be engaged by the cam 74 on the stud 75 so as to open the grippersagainst the tension of the spring 76 which normally holds the grippersclosed. At its lower end the stud 7 5 carries a vane 80 which is freewhen the slide is at the end of its travel, but is constrained by a slot81 in the arm of the spider so as to hold the cam 74 in operativeposition, that is, in contact with each of the two wedges 73 so thatwhen the vane is within the slot the grippers are opened against thepower of the spring 76, the grippers being closed when the vane 80 isfree.

A gear 85, mounted on the main shaft 15 somewhat above the sleeve 20,drives a air of gears 86 each carried on a short sha t 88 having a crank89 at its lower end and adapted to engage a lug 90 on one of the slidescarried by the outer spider 60 so as to move the slide outwardly fromits innermost position after an apple held between the grippers has beenimpaled on the fork by reason of the rise of the sleeve 20 and the innerspider mounted thereon. A steady rest 95 is resiliently carried by theframe so as to be immediately above the apple at the time it is impaledand to prevent the fork from pushing the apple upwardly from between thegrippers. After the apple has thus been impaled the crank arm 89 engagesthe lug 90 and pushes the slide to the opposite limit of its travel theinnermost vane 80 entering its slot 81 and opening the inner gripperwhile the outer gripper is closed on the apple as soon as the vane 80 isfree of the slot 81, the free position of the vane being at an angle tothe slide and being held in such position by means of the spring 76 andthe wedges 73.

Upon movement of the inner spider 30, one stepforward, i. e., one-sixthof the revolution of the spider, each fork with its impaled apple comesto rest at the second station where the pinion 34 engages the wide gear48 which is continuously driven. The impaled apple is thus revolved andis peeled by coming into contact with a cutter blade 107 mounted on ashaft 108 having a ball and socket connection with the holder 109 sothat the arm 108 may move in the slot 110 in the holder 109 as well asrevolve about its ball engagement.

The knife 107 as will be seen from the drawing is curved to aconsiderable degree, its point 111 coming into contact with the stem endof the apple (if the fork has penetrated the blossom end of the apple asis customary) and owing to its sharp taper it 18 able to removepractically all the skin from this end of the apple. As the impaledapple moves upwardly against the knife blade and its supporting plate byreason of the slow raising of the sleeve 20, the plate 112 is movedabout the axis of the shaft 108 against the power of the spring 114. The

continued upward moving of the apple causes the shaft 108 to move in theslot 110 against the power of the spring 114 until the knife 107 isagain horizontal at which time the apple will have been entirely peeled.Upon release of the cutting mechanism the spring 114 will return theparts to normal position.

Particular attention is called to the fact that with a knife of the typeillustrated it is possible to completely remove the peeling of the appleexcept for a tiny portion near the stem and the blossom, these twoportions being removed with the core so that it may, be said the appleis entirely peeled by the machine requiring no hand work, thiselimination of handling being particularly advantageous in that itpreserves the color of the apples by avoiding the turning dark of thefruit while waiting for the hand trimming. At the next movement of theinner spider 30 the pared apple is brought beneath the corer and slicerwhich has a central circular knife 117 and a plurality of radial knives118 preferably four or six in number. This corer and slicer isstationary with respect to the frame and the apple moves upwardlyagainst the cutter and is cored and divided into slices the core passingthrough the hollow knife 117 and being driven out at the top byengagement with the next successive apple or the cores may pass downthrough the hollow shaft if desired. The tines 38 of the fork are ofsuch size as to reazdily pass inside of the cylindrical cutter 11 What Iclaim is:

1. In a machine of the character described,

an intermittently rotatable carrier, an independently rotatable membercarried thereby, an apple holder movable with said member, a paringknife, and means for reciprocating said carrier while said holder isrevolving to bring the apple into contact with said paring knife.

2. In a machine of the character described, a drive shaft, a carriermovable thereon, an apple holder rotatably mounted in said carrier,means for operatively connecting said drive shaft and said carrier torotate said carrier, and additional means for reciprocating said carrieron said shaft.

3. In a machine of the character described, a drive shaft, a sleeve onsaid drive shaft, a plurality of auxiliary shafts driven from said driveshaft, a drive pinion on each of said auxiliary shafts, an apple holderrotatably carried by said sleeve, and means for revolving said sleeveabout said drive shaft to bring said apple holders in operativeconnection with said pinions.

4. In a machine of the character described. a rotatable carrier, meansfor moving said carrier in an axial direction, apple holding meansrotatably mounted in said carrier, 9.

plurality of transfer mechanisms rotatably mounted on axes parallel tothe axis of the carrier, and means for moving said carrier to remove anapple from each of said transfer mechanisms simultaneously, andadditional means for simultaneously revolving other apple holders.

In amachine of the character-described, a frame, a resilient applereceiving means carried by said frame, a plurality of transfermechanisms rotatably carried by, said frame and adapted to remove anapple from said flexible means, a central carrier, a pinrality of appleholders on said carrier, means for rotating fsaid carrier to bring oneof said apple holding means beneath one of said transfer mechanisms, andindependent means for raising said carrier and said .apple holder toseize an apple'held by said transfer mechanism.

6. In a machine of the character described,

a frame, a co'rer carried thereby, means for holding a plurality ofapples, and means for bringing sai apples one by one beneath said corerand for raising said holder when an apple is beneath said corer.

In a device of the character described, a frame, a slicing cutterrigidly carried by said" frame, a rotatable carrier, means on saidcarrier for holding a plurality of apples, means to rotate said carrierto bring said an apple on said carrier said slicer.

8. In a device of the character described,

aiplate, a cutter blade mounted thereon, a

holder and'a ball and socket connection be.-

tween said holder and said plate.

9. In a device of the character described,

a gplate, a cutter blade mounted thereon, a

is vertically be'low apples one by one beneath said slicing-- mechanismand for ralsing said carrier when holder for said plate, a ball andsocket connection between said holder and said fplate, a spring forholding said cutter in fixed relation to said holder and for returningsaid cutter to such position after an apple has moved the plate andcutter-from such normal position. I

, 10. In a device of the character described, aframe, a plurality ofresilient means for receiving apples, an intermittentlyoperatedrotatable carrier, a plurality of means for transferring apples fromsaid resilient means to said carrier, a peeling cutter, a corer andslicer for rotating said carrier step by step to bring an apple beneathsaid corer and another apple beneath said peeling-cutter at each step,and means for raising said carrier at each step.

EDWARD E. GAY.

